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An e-learning platform for Aerospace Medicine - 6 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC2577394

Stu Lewis University of Calgary e-learning blended learning MacLachlan EDER 679.29

shared by stu lewis on 29 Feb 12 - No Cached
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  • stu lewis on 29 Feb 12
     
    Copyright 2008, Hippokratio General Hospital of Thessaloniki An e-learning platform for Aerospace Medicine P D Bamidis,1,2 S Konstantinidis,1 C L Papadelis,1,2 E Perantoni,2 C Styliadis,1,2 C Kourtidou-Papadeli,1,2 C Kourtidou-Papadeli,2 and C Pappas1 1Lab of Medical Informatics, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece 2Greek Aerospace Medical Association and Space Research The appeal of online education and distance learning as an educational alternative is ever increasing. Bamidis, P.D., Konstantinidis, S., Papadelis, C.L., Perantoni, E., Styliadis, C., Kourtidou-Papadeli, C. & Pappas, C. (2008) An e-learning platform for Aerospace Medicine. Hippokratia Quarterly Medical Journal 12 (1) pp.15-22 Part II: An E-Learning Platform for Aerospace Medicine Aerospace medicine had been defined as an occupational or preventive form of medicine in which the patients are involved in spaceflight. This specialty specifically endeavours to prevent and treat medical problems and disorders which are common among aircrews and frequent flyers. Although it is a medical specialty widely unknown to the general public, constant educational trends force general practitioners to expand their knowledge base and to learn more about topics such as the treatment of pulmonary disorders in aviation situations. Enter e-learning. As aerospace medicine is not a common topic in educational circles, very few educational courses have been developed which teachers and instructors can use and expand for their courses. The authors of this article, P.D. Bamidis, S. Konstantinidis and others from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, The Greek Aerospace Medical Association and the Hippokratio General Hospital of Thessaloniki present a SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model) compliant course that uses the concepts of modern social web technologies and modern advances in educational technology such as 3D Virtual environments. (cont. in comments)
  • ...3 more comments...
  • stu lewis on 29 Feb 12
     
    The concept of SCORM allows the production of learning material which can be assessed by numerous students and instructors regardless of learning management system (LMS) they may be using. It can also be maintained and adapted as necessary. Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) through the US government, developed SCORM in order to eliminate limitations to courses created with a specific LMS in mind. This article briefly discusses the concept of SCORM, and the Content Aggregation Model (CAM), which shows how each SCORM object can be divided into many Shareable Content Objects (SCOs). More information on the topic, including the use of metadata, can be found at www.scorm.com . Essentially, the authors suggest that a very effective way of conducting their first course in Aerospace Medicine, entitled "pulmonary disorders in aerospace medicine", is to use the SCORM editor to create a course package which contains all the necessary files and information for the online course to completely work properly. It is then put into a zip file and unzipped into the directory and used. By combining this zip file with the LMS, in this case Moodle, the teachers and learners can use all of the web 2.0 tools as well as synchronous and asynchronous modules that are provided by the LMS, making a very effective e-learning environment. This course in particular uses the modules of text, slides, video, forums, wikis and multiple choice quizzes. A couple of great benefits of this is the diversity of the activities and the fact that a different professor (or the same one if they choose to switch their LMS of choice) can take the same course to a different LMS and conduct the course with different tools of that LMS.
  • stu lewis on 29 Feb 12
     
    The concept of SCORM was a new one to me and the authors do a good job of explaining the basics. The entire platform was presented in a way that was understandable, but I would have liked some more examples comparing different tools which might be available for different LMSs and how the different aerospace medicine classes could be altered to suit each LMS. Also, I originally selected this article as I was searching for extremely specific topics which e-learning could be effective in teaching and learning. I thought that aerospace medicine and pulmonary disease were explicit enough. Although numerous screen shots are included in the article, very little explanation of the subject matter itself was given, thus assuming most readers were already quite learned in the matter. Another possible issue which arises with the concept of SCORM may include the issue of intellectual property, and the fact that many class designs and platforms are not designed by the creator with the intent of sharing them. The authors present their aerospace medicine e-learning platform as a great way of taking a very specialized form of educational material and using SCORM and Moodle together to allow for its online instruction and the sharing of the essential subject matter among instructors. If this platform is indeed as effective as the authors make it out to be, I wonder if it would be equally beneficial for a completely different specialized subject. Could we use this platform just as easily for other topics? Also, if specific topics are to be shared among instructors, would it possibly have negative effects on the level of instruction a teacher can provide? I know for a fact that when I take the time to design my own course material, I know it much better and thus can teach to the utmost extent of my ability. Certainly when providing instruction in topics such as aerospace medicine and similar subjects, the level of teaching and learning becomes a matter of life and death.
  • stu lewis on 29 Feb 12
     
    All of the authors are affiliated with the Lab of Medical Informatics, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thesaloniki, Greece, or the Greek Aerospace Medical Accociation and Space Research. For more information in regard to SCORM, check out www.scorm.com For more information about Aristotle University of Thessaloniki check out: http://www.auth.gr/home/index_en.html
  • Inna Bolechowsky on 05 Mar 12
     
    Hi Stu, I am glad that you have explained your choice of the article on the use of an e-learning platform in aerospace medicine for the critical review. I have to admit that I found the article a bit technical, even though the authors did a good job in providing a detailed description of the SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model) concept and the process of creating the SCORM editor to develop a course package. As the authors highlighted, the main benefit of using the SCORM editor in the described course design is that the course can then be transferred to any Learning Management System, while at the same time remain credible, up-to-date and reusable. As I am not familiar with the SCORM concept at all I wish the authors would have provided some overview of how and whether the concept of SCORM and the SCORM editor could be used in designing online courses in other areas of education, and not just limit their literature review to medical education. Personally, I did not find the article to be of any practical value for my teaching practice. However the article allowed me to gain better understanding of how e-learning can be effectively applied in teaching of a course in a very specific area, such as aviation technology, where the instructors need to be qualified to cover a wide range of topics, from engineering, management to education and regulations. Thanks for sharing an article on such specific topic and for another well-developed critical review of the paper. Reference: Bamidis, P.D., Konstantinidis, S., Papadelis, C.L., Perantoni, E., Styliadis, C., Kourtidou-Papadeli, C. & Pappas, C. (2008) An e-learning platform for Aerospace Medicine. Hippokratia Quarterly Medical Journal 12 (1) pp.15-22
  • Sean Green on 08 Mar 12
     
    Hey Stu, I hope all is well in your new home. Interesting article. There is something to be said about the ability to have some flexibility in how and where you use online course content. The internet in general has been a bit of a wild west in the past. In the beginning, it was really only good for direct communications between users. Search engines really helped give it some structure that could be organized and searched, and now standardized coding practices like HTML 5 and SCROM are intent on structuring the web even more. Your description of SCROM prompts me to think about what is going on with the development of the Web 3.0 (semantic web) where metadata is used to give meaning to displayable content, ontologies allow computers to understand that meaning, and software agents use that data to find logical solutions for tasks performed by a users. I must admit that I am quite interested in topics like SCROM and the semantic web. They represent the future of the internet and how it will impact our lives, especially in education. I did a quick search of SCROM on good old wikipedia, and the article suggested that the SCROM allows for a number of learning paths of students and ensures the acceptability of his or her test scores. I think this sort of tailoring of educational environments to meet a learners needs will raise the quality of education while making a teachers job easier. I am speculating here though. Have a great day. Here is a link to an accessible article on the semantic web. Take a look if you are interested. It is Morris, R.D., (2011). Web 3.0: Implications for online learning. Tech Trends. 55(1). 42-46. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/xv0j138255320150/.
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